Shrimp and Grits
Shrimp and Grits
From Cooking Light
We have a serious obsession with Southern food in the HMK. Considering that both of us grew up in Illinois and went to college in neighboring and decidedly Midwestern states, it’s a pretty unfounded obsession. But nonetheless, it persists. Chicago is, surprisingly, home to a number of gourmet establishments that dole out buttermilk biscuits, fried chicken, and sausage gravy to the masses. We’ve been frequenting them all for years, and so it was only a matter of time before we starting churning out these delights in our own kitchen. The high low point may have been the day I walked home from Aldi with a tub of Crisco and two bottles of vegetable oil so that we could deep fry chicken. But more on that in a later post.
This recipe is much less shameful than our adventures in trans fats – heck, it’s a Cooking Light recipe! And boy oh boy is it good. We’ve had it at least 5 times, but this week we really nailed it by serving it up alongside collard greens for a true Southern feast. It’s truely one of those home-cooked meals that really makes you wonder if eating out is all it’s cracked up to be.
Ingredients
- 3 cups milk
- 1 cup water
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 1/2 tsp salt, divided
- 1/4 tsp pepper, divided
- 1 cup uncooked quick-cooking grits
- 1/2 cup (2 oz) Parmesan cheese, grated
- 4 slices bacon
- 1 lb peeled, deveined shrimp
- 1 cup white onion, thinly sliced into half-rings
- 2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
- 1 tsp chipotle chile, canned in adobo sauce, chopped (check the Mexican aisle, but if you can’t find them hot sauce would work too)
- 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper
- 1/4 cup green onions, cut into strips
Preparation
- Combine milk, water, butter, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer.
- Gradually add grits, stirring constantly with a whisk.
- Reduce heat to medium and cook 4 minutes, or until thick, stirring occasionally.
- Remove from heat. Stir in cheese. Cover to keep warm.
- Cook bacon in a skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, crumble, and set aside.
- Remove all but 2 teaspoons of bacon drippings from pan.
- Add shrimp to bacon drippings and cook 2 minutes on each side, or until pink. Remove shrimp and set aside.
- Add onion to pan. Saute 1 minute.
- Add bacon crumbles, tomatoes, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and remaining 1/8 teaspoon pepper to pan. Saute 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add shrimp, pepper sauce and red pepper to pan. Cook 1 minute.
- Serve shrimp mixture over grits, and top with green onion.
Serves 4.

The shrimp recipe sounds wonderful, but I will substitute polenta in place of the grits. 25 years of hanging around Atlanta still did not turn me into a grits loving gal.
Polenta or rice would both be good substitutes. But I still think you should try grits! Don’t worry though, I won’t try to force sweet tea on you next 🙂